Feb
8
In May 1939, to define the Jew…
February 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment
In May 1939, to define the Jewish ‘problem’ to the world, Goebbels had 937 German Jews shipped to the apparent safety of Cuba. Refused entry into Havana, the luxury liner was forced back supporting Hamburg and the camps. Rosenberg here confuses seriousness with tedious solemnity, and with the star glut has produced a compacted TV series. Too many dramas compete for attention on board. The political doings in Havana are confusing; and the prelude to each Cuban scene – maracas, rumbas, curtail-assess Carmen Mirandas – irritates. Very idiosyncratic performances from the big shots: Welles’ wryly kind Cuban magnate; Captain von Sydow, humane and anguished; steward McDowell hitting new heights in public school deference; Dunaway in jackboots and monocle. The paramount moments, such as they are, come in the renowned passenger scenes; though awkwardly filmed, they generate hysteria, a coherence of lose hope.